Wow....
"The Currie Cup in South Africa is a high standard" -
Those players would seriously struggle to play state cup.
South African Rugby and junior participation is in a worse state than Australian Rugby!
Have any of you seen the Wallabies squad recently? 3 players were solid Tiger RESERVE GRADERS!!! (naiyaravoro, Chance Peni, & Koroibete). Admittedly Koro is 1st grade standard but fact is he left because he was playing reserve grade for us.
Union is a seriously second rate version of league as far as individual athletes go.... And listing players from 60-100 years ago that made the transition is not relevant...
If i was going to search for a union player to switch to league the only place worth a look is NZ... The "world" of Union is a joke and will never provide anything to the NRL.
The Tigers have gone down the union path many times and ALL have failed. The most successful probably being Sam Harris followed by Jarrod Saffy in recent times. And calling Saffy a South African Rugby Union player is stretching it...

your an idiot.... What private school do you go to? Newington?
Its been done and failed miserably.
Joost van der westhuizen was a great Union player and at his peak (slightly after) was brought to the tigers many years ago to train.... He failed miserably. Like the vast majority of solidified Union professionals. Was too slow laterally, couldn't defend, inaccurate pass, slow clearance, not fit enough..... He failed in training in every way and was sent back to SA before being offered a contract.

The Roosters brought a few young SA rugby players over in 2009 and I'm pretty sure they struggled with the concept of the game. Matty Johns worked with them, he said they were great athletes but coming from so far behind in their development they were never going to make it.

Tian Strauss played a couple of seasons for the sharks in the mid 1990s. Since rugby has developed into a slower more power based game, unsuited to league. There surely would be plenty of talented rugby juniors unsuited to professional style. Identify talent, attitude and persistence. A few here have short memories one of our best ever wingers Tanilla tuiaki was playing for Drummoyne and could of been anything.

Convert them at the age of 8 so they can get the basics right ie passing and tackling and they might have a chance...
The gap in skills is evident in the early years when you watch both codes. League players pass the ball and make 5 or 6 times the amount of tackles a game than the average union junior... By the age of 13 there is no comparison.
Union is to league as is Softball to Baseball.....